Tag: hogwarts

As someone who is a massive Potterhead, of course I feel the need to discuss Harry Potter frequently, so why not on my blog?

I wanted to talk about why I changed my Hogwarts house and what this might mean regarding the validity of categorising people into one house or another.

I would say that my peak obsession with the Harry Potter series was when I was 15/16 years old. I took all the sorting hat quizzes online, and when Pottermore came out a few years later while I was at university, I solidified myself as a true Ravenclaw, as I would get this result nearly every time I took these quizzes.

However, more recently as a 25 year old, I have taken these quizzes again out of interest. My hypothesis was that the result we get has potential to change years between taking the quiz (of course you have to be answering truthfully each time). And sure enough, I was right! There has actually been an overwhelming lean towards me now being sorted into Hufflepuff house! I still have Ravenclaw as being ranked my secondary house, however I think I recall from years ago having Hufflepuff be very lowly ranked, therefore it is an interesting shift in results.

So the question now is why did my house change?

When I consider the typical traits of both houses, Ravenclaws are usually academically-motivated, witty and have a lot of wisdom. Hufflepuffs however are typically loyal, hard-working and fair.

Looking back at how I was as a person when I was a Ravenclaw, I completely agree that I considered being knowledgeable and intelligent as valuable traits. I was a full-time student back then and I was often seen visiting the library and getting my assignments done early and always aimed for the highest standard.

Nowadays, I am working in a role which requires me to be kind and supportive. While I still value intelligent people, I believe it is not as important as being loyal. In the last couple of years, I have also switched to veganism and developed a real love for all animals (being an animal-lover is often synonymous with Hufflepuff, so makes sense).

So it appears that my values have changed from what they were a few years ago. And if this happened for me, perhaps this happens with the majority of people. It is also possible that my values have not changed so much as I had all these Hufflepuff traits on my spectrum before, but now they are more prominent, and the Ravenclaw traits have moved lower down the spectrum. This would mean that values work in a similar way in which personality traits are theorised to work on a spectrum or scale.

In contrast to personality traits, which are mostly known to be consistent throughout our lives, it can be agreed that our values can be changed.

A change or shift in our values could possibly just be a part of maturing. Therefore it seems reasonable to suggest that those 11 year old Hogwarts students being sorted into a house on their first day of school, may identify more with a different house by the end of their 7th year. Perhaps the whole house system is flawed if it is based on current values and interests.

It would be interesting to see whether a change in Hogwarts house is very common. Maybe if you’re reading this, take the sorting hat quiz again and let me know your result!